Unveiling the Home Selling Journey in Raleigh, NC

Selling a home can be a complex and time-consuming process, filled with numerous steps and considerations. Whether you’re a first-time seller or have experience in real estate, understanding the overall process and its timeline is crucial. MORE Real Estate Group is here to walk you through the typical process of selling a home in Raleigh, North Carolina, shedding light on the various stages involved and providing insights into the average duration of each step. 

The first thing you need to do is to get your head straight about WHY you are looking to sell your home. This simple mental exercise could be the most crucial step in the entire process of selling your home. Having an honest understanding of your current financial situation as well as a realistic perspective of the other pressures that might impede or speed up the timeline will help you to navigate the process much more smoothly. As they say in elite military training ‘slow is smooth, and smooth is fast’ – take the time to reflect and discuss your particulars with someone you trust. This is especially important if you have a spouse that might have a different opinion (if you’re married, you’ll be nodding your head). While we are not licensed therapists, our experts at MORE Real Estate Group have found tremendous success in leading people through this thought exercise. 

The truth is, you can sell ANY home in ANY condition at ANY time…you just have to get the price right. Keep in mind though that homes in the best condition do sell faster and get the most money. For the purposes of this article, let’s assume that your goal is to sell your home for the most amount of money, in the least amount of time, with as little hassle as possible. 

 

 

Preparing Your Home for Sale

Before listing your home, it’s important to ensure it is in optimal condition to attract potential buyers. This is a beauty contest, with the potential buyers as the only judges – you MUST look at the house as critically as they will. Start by decluttering, deep cleaning, and making necessary repairs or improvements. Consider enhancing curb appeal and staging your home to showcase its best features. Depending on the current condition of your property, this preparatory stage may take anywhere from a few days to several weeks.

 

Hiring a Real Estate Agent

While it’s possible to sell a home on your own (FSBO – For Sale By Owner), working with a professional real estate agent can offer numerous advantages. Agents (most of us anyway!) possess market knowledge, negotiation skills, and extensive networks that can help you sell your home faster and at a better price. They should be able to guide you on pricing based on condition, what the buyer pool is looking for, how to position your property with effective marketing, and manage the entire process. A good real estate agent will take the home selling stress and burden off of you. Take the time to research and interview potential agents, ensuring they have experience in the Raleigh area. The selection process typically takes a week or two.

 

Setting the Right Price

Determining the right listing price is crucial to attract potential buyers while maximizing your return on investment. Your real estate agent will conduct a comparative market analysis (CMA), considering factors such as recent sales in your neighborhood, market trends, and property conditions. In today’s market, you need to price better than your competition that hasn’t sold. The pricing strategy may involve some back-and-forth discussion with your agent, and the process can take a few days.

 

Listing and Marketing Your Home

Once your home is ready and priced competitively, your agent will create a compelling marketing program with professional high-quality photos and a like we do at MORE Real Estate, a detailed lifestyle description. The listing will be uploaded to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), real estate websites, and promoted through social media and other marketing channels. This stage typically takes a day or two.

 

 

Showings and Open Houses

As potential buyers express interest, your agent will schedule showings and potentially organize open houses to showcase your home. These events give prospective buyers the opportunity to explore the property, ask questions, and visualize themselves living there. If your home is not priced right, showings and open houses can continue to occur over several weeks, depending on the level of interest and scheduling availability. The professionals at MORE Real Estate Group have this process down to a science. We’ll be happy to give you our latest DOM (Days-on-Market) statistics!

 

Receiving and Negotiating Offers

When an interested buyer submits an offer, you have the option to accept, decline, or negotiate. Your real estate agent will help you review offers, evaluate terms, and negotiate with the buyer’s agent to reach a favorable agreement. This process can take several days or longer, depending on the complexity of negotiations and the number of offers received. While negotiations can become exhausting and stressful, a great agent will make this critical step smooth and carefree.

 

Under Contract and Due Diligence

Once an offer is accepted and both parties sign the purchase agreement, the home is considered “under contract.” During this period, the buyer typically conducts inspections, appraisals, and other due diligence activities to ensure the property’s condition and value. The duration of the due diligence period is negotiable but typically lasts around two to three weeks.

 

Closing Process

Assuming the buyer is satisfied with the due diligence results, the transaction progresses towards the closing stage. During this phase, the buyer secures financing, and both parties coordinate with attorneys, lenders, and title companies to complete the necessary paperwork. The closing process usually takes around 30 to 45 days after the offer acceptance, but it can vary depending on factors such as loan processing time and contingencies.

 

Boxing up your life and moving to a new place can make the most patient of us lose our cool. We’ve been there, too many times to count. While we can’t save you from all the stress and the angst of this transition, we can and will help you make it a smoother one. 

There is so much more to selling a home than just putting it online with a lot of photos. Whatever it takes to not just sell your home, but make it manageable for you, MORE will do it.  We stand above others with a quality lifestyle presentation of your property paired with our supreme attention to detail.  

MORE offers a full service approach to helping our clients sell their homes. Our hand selected team provides design, staging and landscaping advice, world class photography and videography, and custom one of a kind marketing and advertising campaigns. We utilize every portal buyers use to search for homes in the area, as well as reach out to our vast database of potential local buyers and relocating clients. All done to generate immediate interest in your home.